Thursday, 8 September 2011

Club armour

Liverpool Kendo Club has long held the position that we should provide club armour to those that have shown progress and commitment to their training. This obligation was explored in the post about Giri 義理. However, we are beginning to notice that those that do loan armour are not showing the level of attendance expected to justify the use of bogu, when there are regular members of the club who could benefit more from it's use.

We have discussed a number of options, including a deposit but instead we have decided to limit the loan of club armour for three months unless a valid reason for extending the loan is agreed by either Sensei Ware or Sensei Carter. Ultimately if you currently have armour you are expected to attend practice on Wednesdays and kata every other Monday. If you cannot make this commitment then we expect you to return the bogu so that someone who fully participates in the club can progress.

If you cannot attend specific practices for valid reasons then please keep in contact with us so we know why, that is your duty in taking care of the bogu. It is disheartening that not only are we not seeing regular use of club armour we are also having to chase up those who have borrowed it and eventually recover it at club expense, this is totally unacceptable. Therefore we expect everyone with club armour to return it to the dojo next Wednesday so we can re-allocate it to those members who deserve use of it.

For those that want to continue to train irregularly then it will be your obligation to invest in your own bogu. That way you can come and go as you please and you will not be slowing the progress of other club members.